ANNA MARSHALL BELLOWS 



NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 



I 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 
CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



HON. JAMES H. MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY. N. Y.-1914 






Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor 



^. 



CUn^n^ /5^^*<p^l2^ /^MPu' 



ANNA MARSHALL BELLOWS 



Anna Marshall Bellows, for a number of years regent of 
General Richard Montgomery Chapter, Daughters of the 
American Revolution, of Gloversville, and a leader in the 
social, religious and humanitarian activities of that city, was 
born in the town of Vernon, Oneida County, N. Y., youngest 
child and only daughter of Levi T. and Mary Ann (Smith) 
Marshall. Her father was a man of prominence in Vernon and 
Gloversville, to which place he removed in 1869. 

On her father's side of the family Mrs. Bellows is descended 
from Deacon Thomas Marshall, who was a resident of Boston, 
Mass., in 1634. Captain Samuel, son of Deacon Thomas, 
was a native of England and came to America with his father. 
He subsequently settled in Windsor, Conn., becoming a free- 
man of the colony in 1634, a deputy in 1637 and a magistrate 
in 1638. He rendered valiant service in King Philip's war, 
was made captain, and was killed in the battle of the " Great 
Swamp," December 19, 1675. 

Mrs. Bellows has spent most of her life in Gloversville. 
When a young woman it became necessary to assume the man- 
agement of a considerable estate. Her natural inclination and 



scholarly accomplishments made it comparatively easy for her 
to grasp practical business affairs and carry them to successful 
issues. 

On April 11, 1883. Anna Marshall was united in mar- 
riage to Edwin Philip Bellows, this date being the fifty-first 
anniversary of the wedding of the bride's father and mother. 
Mr. Bellows was born at Gloversville, March 24, 1851. He 
is a graduate of the Albany Law School, and is a lawyer of 
ability. For several years he was engaged in the practice of 
his profession at Albany, being associated in partnership with 
the late Gansevoort de W. Hurlburt. 

A woman of boundless energy, great executive ability and 
large sympathies, Mrs. Bellows early took rank as a leader 
among the women of her city. She is in the van of every or- 
ganized movement looking toward the betterment of moral and 
physical conditions in humanity, and in securing more humane 
conditions for animals. The local Humane Society owes its 
founding and first organization to her hearty insistance, and 
she has continued to be most active and helpful in the work 
of the society, which is now a branch of the Mohawk and 
Hudson Humane Society. Of this organization she has for 
years been a director. Mrs. Bellows has also taken a most 
active interest in the Gloversville Young Woman's Christian 
Association, and it has grown stronger and farther reaching 
in its influence under her as president. She is a member of the 



First Congregational Church of Gloversville, has long been 
prominently identified with all of its worthy activities, and for 
three years served as president of the Ladies' Benevolent So- 
ciety of the church. She is a member of Cayadutta Chapter 
No. 66, order of the Eastern Star, of Gloversville, and is 
also a member of the Washington Headquarters Association 
of New York. 

Active as she has been in other lines of effort, Mrs Bellows 
is most widely known for her success in D. A. R. work in 
which she has been signally efficient. Long a devoted member 
of the chapter, she was in 1906 elected regent of General 
Philip Montgomery Chapter, Daughters of the American 
Revolution, and at each succeeding election has been re-elected 
to the office. She has also served as a delegate to numerous 
State and National conventions of the order. The importance 
of Mrs. Bellows' work along these lines is shown by the fol- 
lowing from the pen of a prominent citizen of Gloversville: 

" The Daughters of the American Revolution is an organi- 
zation which commands our profound respect. Its members 
are continually rediscovering American History and seeing 
that it does not get lost again. They label it in bronze, and 
in a way which cuts deep into our patriotism and remembrance. 
Besides marking all Revolutionary events of general interest, 
they find in many old, disused cemeteries the graves of unre- 
membered Revolutionary heroes; and it has become a wide- 



spread practice of the order to rehabilitate these graveyards 
that have long been overgrown with weeds and wild shrubbery, 
cleaning them all out. trimming the shade trees, leveling the 
tumuli, straightening and cleaning the slabs, keeping the grass 
cut, and setting new markers to the graves of the old soldiers, 
with a bronze tablet on the gate post, thus transforming grew- 
some thickets into shrines. This special work appeals to Mrs. 
Anna Marshall Bellows; and to her lasting credit is the trans- 
forming of such a cemetery in her own city, which was found 
rich in Revolutionary heroes who would have remained for- 
gotten except for the personal effort of this grand woman. 
Her spirit and purpose is an object lesson which cannot be 
misunderstood until the last American is dead." 

Mrs. Bellows is a woman of most winning personality. She 
is especially gifted as a public speaker, and has made many 
notable addresses, both at home and at the various conventions 
to which she has been a delegate. But few women have given 
more freely of their time and means toward the betterment of 
humanity than has Mrs. Bellows. In every enterprise in which 
she has been interested, she has been a most active and efficient 
worker, knowing no such word as fail ; and by her energy, de- 
votion and unbounded enthusiasm has been a most powerful 
factor in its ultimate success. 



i 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 

in 



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CLARA L. PARSONS 









OMEN 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 



WITH 



BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 



AND 



CHARACTER PORTRAITS 



FREDERICK S. HILLS 
Editor and Publisher 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY. N. Y— 1936 






u^x^/^ 






-'^^^" 



CLARA L. PARSONS 
1878-1936 



Clara L. Parsons, for more than a quarter of a 
century director of the Identification Bureau of the 
New York State Department of Correction, where she 
carved for herself national fame in the now well-estab- 
lished science of fingerprinting, and became inter- 
nationally known and accepted as an expert in her 
profession, was bom in Greenwich, New York, March 
29, 1878, daughter of William C. and Susie W. 
(Lansing) Parsons. Her father, William C. Parsons 
was born in 1852 and died in 1896. Her mother, 
Susie W. (Lansing) Parsons, a woman to whose uni- 
versal love of humanity was added the charm of a 
delightful personality, was born January 2, 1859, and 
died November 30, 1934. 

Miss Parsons obtained her early schooling at Green- 
wich Academy, and later matriculated at the Albany 
Business College in preparation for a clerical career. 
Upon her graduation she obtained a bookkeeping posi- 
tion in the Tilden Laboratories at Lebanon, N. Y. 
From there she went to Glens Falls where she was a 
stenographer and bookkeeper with the law firm of 
King & Angel. 



In 1907 she returned to Albany to become auditor 
in the Hampton Hotel, a position she relinquished 
six months later to accept an opening with the Prisons 
Commission. From that time she began to carve for 
herself a niche in the world of criminal identification. 
Upon the retirement of the then director, Miss Flor- 
ence DeForest, Miss Parsons was promoted to the 
position of Bertillon indexer. In the reorganization 
of the state government, the Prisons Commission 
became the Department of Correction and Miss Par- 
sons was made head of the Bureau of Identification. 

Fingerprinting, first introduced to the public as a 
stunt at the St. Louis World's Fair, was later adopted 
by police departments as an infallible and permanent 
method of criminal identification. By 1916, when it 
was in general use by departments throughout the 
world. Miss Parsons had devoted years of study to the 
system which later was to bring her international 
prominence. 

A member of the National Identification Association 
and of the state organization, she was in charge of 
hundreds of thousands of Bertillon records in the state 
files. A remarkable memory enabled her to recognize 
the loops and arches and whorls and composites — 
tell-tale marks left by the impression of a finger at 
any time in the life of a person. 

Just as she had pioneered in the fingerprinting sys- 
tem as a means of identifying criminals, so had Miss 



Parsons led the movement for universal fingerprinting 
of all persons — a movement only recently receiving 
the recognition she would have given it years ago. 
She frequently expressed regret that the public gen- 
erally considered fingerprints of value only in dealing 
with the criminal element. She was an advocate of a 
program in which every person would place his prints 
on file as an aid to identification in the event of acci- 
dent or death. 

She lived to see her plan receive national recogni- 
tion and took pride in the fact that in her private files 
she had the fingerprints of former Governor Alfred E. 
Smith, President Roosevelt, the late former Vice- 
President Curtis and Governor Lehman. 

Her records were available to police in an emer- 
gency at any time, night or day. No man-hunt of note 
was more than minutes old before she would throw 
open the records to police in order that photographs 
and records of fingerprint classifications of the wanted 
person could be circularized without delay. 

No woman in state service had been publicized as 
much as Miss Parsons, and few persons had the knowl- 
edge of modern identification methods she possessed. 
In the state service for nearly twenty-eight years, she 
had devoted all of that time in the bureau she was 
named to head but a few years after she entered it. 

Miss Parsons was a deep student of civic affairs and 
of public issues. She possessed a wonderful memory 



and her mind was stored with a weahh of information. 
She was a great reader and her reading covered prac- 
tically the entire field of human affairs. She wielded 
a graceful pen and her compositions were masterpieces 
of direct and powerful expression of thought. She 
was a charming conversationist and her utterances 
sparkled with wit and humor. 

She continued her devotion to the State Identifica- 
tion Bureau to the very last for she collapsed while 
addressing a large audience on the science of finger- 
printing, a subject she perhaps knew better than any 
other woman, and passed away during the hour. 

Clara L. Parsons died February 21, 1936. The 
Binghamton, New York Press, of the following day, 
commenting on her life work and service to the State, 
said editorially: 

"Anyone who ever had anything to do with criminal 
identification work in New York State knew Clara 
Parsons of the State Identification Bureau at Albany. 
Not only knew her but respected and admired the 
gray-haired Nemesis of gangdom who moved so 
serenely and surely among her classification files and 
on whose word police departments hung, breathless, 
for the signal that meant arrest or a new pursuit of 
individuals. Clara Parsons was a woman to challenge 
the attention and the respect of the hardest-boiled cop 
that ever traced a criminal to his lair. She knew what 
she was doing. When she began she began with 



Bertillon. In a few years she was going on from where 
Bertillon left off. Loops, whorls and vagaries of those 
identifying minute lines on the ball of thumb and 
fingers constituted the world in which she lived; a 
world that she made her own by right of intelligent 
conquest. 

"By any reckoning she must be accounted one of 
the officers of society's general staff in that period of 
identification pioneering when courts in New York 
State first began to admit fingerprint identification as 
admissible evidence. Clara Parsons saw the whole 
long battle on that point through to successful con- 
clusion; saw the day when her work became recog- 
nized at full value; knew the satisfaction of having 
police departments all over the country turn to her 
and her errorless files. In that lay her life's satisfac- 
tion. Generally speaking she was not largely known 
to the public outside the sphere of the Albany news- 
papers which now and again featured her and her 
work. With that she was wholly content. It mattered 
little to her where the spotlight of fame played as 
long as she knew she was getting the answer. 

"Many women have risen to greater attention in 
public service, but of all those who have held public 
office in New York State none stood higher than Clara 
Parsons in the estimation of men who knew. If the 
women of the State of New York ever desire to erect 
among the elms of Capitol Park a statue to exemplify 



the service of Women to the State they will do no 
better than to have fashioned an heroic mold of that 
able, silver-haired woman — pointing with nemetic 
authority at a crouching criminal and bearing the 
inscription 'By the Works of Their Hands Shall Ye 
Know Them.' " 

The woman who has lived for others and who has 
brought into exercise the best energies of her mind 
and heart that she might make the world the brighter 
and better for her having lived in it, cannot fail to be 
possessed of a serenity of soul which makes itself felt 
in every word and in every action. Such a woman 
was the late Clara L. Parsons. She made her way 
upward by energy, foresight and sound judgment. 
She was keenly concerned for the welfare of the State 
and ready at all times to serve the public interest. 
Always courageous, she was never more so than when, 
as it seemed to her, a principle was involved; she 
would fight to the last for the right as she saw it. A 
woman of the most painstaking conscientious devotion 
to whatever task she undertook, she was at the same 
time a most engaging and lovable personality, and a 
loyal friend. 



/ 



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,n29 
copy ^ 



GEORGIANA GRAY JEWETT 



NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 

CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon JAMES H. MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY, N. Y.— 1922 



n/8 



^^-^zy/a^i^^ 2^P?^ay 




Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor. 





■\W». 




,^ 




' JJe^^o"^-^^^ 



GEORGIANA GRAY JEWETT 

Mrs. Charles Allen Jewett (Georgiana Gray), well 
known through the central part of the State, and espe- 
cially throughout the length and breadth of the beautiful 
Mohawk Valley, was born at Port Jackson, Montgomery 
county, New York, February 23, 1856, only daughter of 
John Joseph Gray and Maria Lovisa Curtiss. Her father. 
John J. Gray, was born at Ephratah, in the town of 
Palatine, New York, July 2, 1814, the son of Jacob 
and Hannah (Everson) Gray, and grandson of Major 
Samuel Gray, who was a soldier of the Revolution and 
commanded troops at the battle of Oriskany. John J. 
Gray was educated in the District schools and at the 
Canajoharie Academy. After teaching school for several 
terms he went to Illinois where he became a farmer and 
contractor. He was a business man of much ability, and 
becoming interested in railroad work he superintended the 
first work done on the Chicago and Galena railway. 
After several years he returned east and located at Port 
Jackson. Montgomery county, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. For many years he was a success- 



ful contractor of large undertakings, in the building of 
railroads, in Vermont and New Hampshire. He also 
secured contracts, enlarging, deepening and widening a 
portion of the Erie Canal at Amsterdam, his contract 
covering a distance of six miles; he also bought land in 
the town of Florida. Some of it now, after 75 years 
or more, is still in the possession of Mrs. Jewett. Mr. 
Gray died at Amsterdam, January I. 1899, in his 
85th year. 

Mrs. Jewett's mother, Maria L. Curtiss, was of colonial 
and revolutionary ancestry; she was the daughter of 
Warren Hotchkiss Curtiss, born April 14, 1790, who, 
on July 20, 1812, married Katherine Pettingill. Her 
(Katherine Pettingill's) grandfather. Captain Samuel Pet- 
tingill, was a soldier of the Revolution and was killed 
at the battle of Oriskany where the brave General 
Herkimer fell and Major Samuel Gray was engaged. 
Captain Samuel Pettingill married Elizabeth Cline, who 
was bom in Holland; their son Samuel married Christiana, 
daughter of Captain William Snook, of Snook's Corners, 
Florida. Captcun Snook was a descendant of the 
Emigrant Snook, who settled on a grant of six hundred and 
forty acres in the town of Florida, Montgomery county. 

Mrs. Jewett's grandfather, Warren H. Curtiss, with 
his sister Eunice, who later became the wife of Thomas 



Haslett, emigrated to the Mohawk Valley from G)n- 
necticut and bought a small piece of land in the town 
of Florida, directly across the river from Amsterdam. 
Warren H. Curtiss was one of the first to manufacture 
hats in the Mohawk Valley, a trade which he had pre- 
viously followed in Connecticut. Mr. Curtiss died 
November 9, 1830. 

Mrs. Jewett was educated in select schools in Amster- 
dam, at the Amsterdam Academy and the Hudson River 
Institute at Claverack, Columbia county, at that time one 
of the most widely known of the educational institutions 
of the country. Her entire life has been spent in the 
beautiful and historical Mohawk Valley and she is very 
familiar with its early history, which, by the way, her 
ancestors were so much a part of. She has been an eye 
witness to the many changes that have taken place, in 
that section, during the last half century. Mrs. Jewett 
is a member of the Amsterdam Chapter of the Daughters 
of the AmericcUi Revolution, a member of the Century 
Club and a former member of the Montgomery County 
Historical Society. She has for years been an active 
worker in the Sarah Jane Sanford Home for Elderly 
Women and has been most liberal, as was Mr. Jewett, 
in the support of all local charities and charitable 
institutions. 



On September 6, 1876, at the age of twenty, 
Georgiana Gray was united in marriage to Charles Allen 
Jewett. Mr. Jewett was born at Chaumont, Jefferson 
county. New York, November II, 1 854, only son of 
Dr. Henry W. and Mary (Allen) Jewett. He attended 
the Amsterdam Academy and the Hudson River Insti- 
tute as did Mrs. Jewett. For many years he was active 
in the development of his properties in Port Jackson. In 
1901 he was appointed a member of the Board of Water 
Commissioners holding the position for a period of nine 
years through appointments of the Common Council. Mr. 
Jewett was also for a time a member of the Amsterdam 
Board of Trade; with Mrs. Jewett he was an attendant 
of the First Reformed Church. Mr. Jewett was a man 
of striking appearance and was honored and loved by all 
who knew him. He died November 23, 1920. 

Mrs. Jewett is the mother of one child, a daughter, 
Florence Gray Jewett, born November 30, 1877. She 
married, on October 21, 1902, George Henry Churchill, 
a prominent business man of Amsterdam. Mr. Churchill 
is a member of the Amsterdam Board of Trade. 

Mrs. Jewett resides in a beautiful home erected about 
twenty years ago, and surrounded by spacious grounds. 
On this site, many years ago stood a tavern and follow- 
ing that the original farm house which was removed in 



1900 to make room for the modern home now occupied 
by the family. 

While Mrs. Jewett was trained in the teachings of the 
schools and received a finished education, it was not done 
at the expense of that other kind of teaching that would 
render her a good housekeeper. On the contrary, from 
early childhood she was trained in the ways of industry; 
she was taught every branch of housework and these 
accomplishments have remained with her throughout the 
years, for she is a firm believer in the doctrine of always 
having something useful to do. 

While Mrs. Jewett has many admirers throughout the 
Valley, she has earned the affection of the people of her 
home city among whom her daily life is spent and where 
she continues her charitable activities unabated at the 
present time. 



/ 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

I mil mil mil mil 



niill 

014 112 467 5 % 



-n 



F 118 
.n29 
Copy 1 




ANNA LAURELLA CLARKE GILES 



NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 




MmM 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 

CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon JAMES H. MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY. N. Y.— 1921 






Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor. 

GIFT 
PUBLISHER 

JAN * '" 



I 








ANNA LAURELLA CLARKE GILES 



Anna L. (Clarke) Giles, who for more than forty 
years has been a resident of Troy, New York, and for 
many of those years, has been active in Troy's charitable, 
philanthropic and religious activities, was born in Albany, 
New York, January 28, 1861. Her father was Hon. 
Gaylord Judd Clarke, born in Owego, Tioga County, 
February 25, 1836. He was a graduate of Union Col- 
lege, class of 1859, and was for years a Judge, residing 
at El Paso, Texas. Although a layman, he founded 
the first Protestant church in El Paso and read the first 
service. The Mission, at the request of Mrs. Clarke, 
was named St. Clement, in honor of their little son who 
died about that time. TTiere is now a new church on 
the site and it bears the same name. In the new church 
are beautiful stained glass windows and a bronze tablet 
placed there in memory of the founder, by Mrs. Giles 
and her mother. The bronze tablet is inscribed as fol- 
lows: " In loving memory of Gaylord Judd Clarke, 



Founder of this church; born February 25, 1836, died 
December 7, 1 870. — a just man and perfect — who 
walked with God." About 1915, Mrs. Giles also gave 
the church a fine organ in memory of her mother. 

Mrs. Giles' mother was Frances Helen Corey, daughter 
of Allen and Ann (Whipple) Corey. Her grandmother, 
Ann Whipple, was a member of a fine old Quaker 
family of Rhode Island, contemporary with Roger Wil- 
liams. One of her ancestors. Job Whipple, came from 
Cumberland Hill, R. I., and founded, at what is now 
Greenwich, N. Y., a village known as Whipple City, 
and he was its first president. He installed the first spin- 
ning frames and was the first to manufacture yarn, which 
was jobbed out to the women of the surrounding country 
to be woven into cloth. The women rode on horseback 
from Whitehall, Granville and as far as Vermont, taking 
their pay in yarn for the use of their own families. Mr. 
Whipple was an energetic business man and saw clearly 
the future of the place. He sent his son-in-law, Mr. 
Mowry, to England, and although positively forbidden 
admission to the English mills, he secured enough knowl- 
edge to enable him to build knitting machinery here, and 
thus commenced in Whipple City, the industry that more 
than all others has made the prosperity of the country. 
This was the first attempt to manufacture cotton goods 
in the State, and the success of the enterprise caused the 



speedy establishment of many factories in other locations. 
History says that: "after Mr. Mowry's return from 
Europe, a suspicious package came to him from that 
country, that the father of Miss Martha Evans threw it 
from the mill window into the river, and when it was 
opened it proved to be an infernal machine." 

Anna L. (Clarke) Giles was bom in Albany. New 
York. January 28, 1861, however, she might well be 
termed a southern girl, for she was educated in St. Mary's 
Episcopal school and at Knoxville College, Knoxville. 
Illinois. She was graduated from the latter institution in 
the class of 1879. She shortly after returned east and 
on December 15, 1880. was united in marriage to Mr. 
Leonard House Giles, of Troy, N. Y. She still resides 
in the beautiful home where she came as a bride more 
than forty years ago. 

Mrs. Giles is a woman of attractve personality, of 
broad culture and of pleasing address. In the social life 
of Troy she has been a leader for years. Her interests 
are many and varied. To the many useful lines of effort 
with whidi she is identified she brings a rare degree of 
enthusiasm, energy and executive ability of a high order. 
Mrs. Giles is a member of the Troy Chamber of Com- 
merce and of the City Planning Committee. She is a 
member of several literary clubs, is Vice-President of the 
Young Women's Christian Association, and Treasurer of 



the Woman's Auxiliary of the Young Men's Christian 
Association. She is a daughter of the American Revolu- 
tion, was twice State Regent, and is now a director of 
the State Association. 

Mrs. Giles is a life member of the National Geogra- 
phical Society, the American Forestry Association and of 
the American Navy League. She is deeply interested 
in all civic matters of her home city as well as its reli- 
gious activities, she is a member and very active in the 
First Baptist Church of Troy, the second oldest church 
in the city, which has just celebrated its one hundred 
and twenty-fifth anniversary. 

With Mr. Giles. Mrs. Giles has traveled extensively, 
visiting many places of interest in the southern seas and 
in Mediterranean Europe, and throughout the Holy Land. 
Their plans are all made for another extended European 

trip in 1922. 

Mr. Giles, one of Troy's most highly honored business 
men, was born in Rome, N. Y.. May 23, 1841, and 
there received his education. At the age of nineteen m 
1860, he settled in Troy where he has since resided. 
After coming to Troy he spent some time with the 
J. M. Warren Hardware Company, and later was a 
partner in his father's stove manufacturing firm. In 1888 
he established a plating and manufacturing business under 
the firm name of Giles & Nielsen. 



Mr. Giles is deeply interested in the welfare of his 
adopted city. He is a member of the Troy Chamber of 
Commerce, of the Sons of the American Revolution, and 
lojr many years has been an active member of and is 
now Senior Deacon of the First Baptist Church, an or- 
ganization which has benefited through the interest and 
generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Giles, who, in 1920, pre- 
sented the church with a beautiful organ. 



F 118 

.nzs 

Copy 1 




KATRINA TRASK 



NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 
CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon. JAMES H. MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY, N. Y.-1914 






Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor 



^ n '/if. 






OS 

N 

4 

Hi' 




y 



KATRINA TRASK 



Katrina Trask (Mrs. Spencer Trask), author and humani- 
tarian, is the daughter of George L. Nichols and his wife, 
Christina Cole. Mrs. Trask's father was of English ancestry, 
while her mother was descended from sturdy Dutch stock. 
Her education was carried on in the best private schools and 
under private tutors. In 1874 Katrina Nichols married 
Spencer Trask, the New York banker. Four children were 
born, but all died in childhood. 

During the lifetime of her children. Mrs. Trask, an un- 
usually accomplished and brilliant woman, devoted herself to 
their education, to the life of her home and to society. It was 
not until after the death of her children that she gave herself 
seriously to literary work; she wrote various magazine articles, 
poems, essays and stories. Her work in the realm of literary 
art has won her a high place among modern English and 
American writers. Her most important books are: " Mors 
et Victoria," " Night and Morning," " King Alfred's Jewel," 
" The Little Town of Bethlehem," and " In the Vanguard." 
Of " Night and Morning " the London Standard said in part: 
" This is a short blank verse poem, at once narrative and re- 



ligious — or perhaps one should say ethical — of very un- 
usual quality. The lovers meet in a garden described in verse 
that Keats might almost have written. An incident from the 
New Testament could not have been treated with more ret- 
icence or a higher devotional feeling, and the style is worthy 
of the spirit that informs it. Mrs. Trask's blank verse is of 
exceptional excellence, smooth, flexible and varied in its 
rythms. She is unquestionably a poet." 

The extract given above is typical of the trained critics' 
opinions of Mrs. Trask's literary works, several of which were 
at first published anonymously. " The Little Town of Beth- 
lehem," a play for the Christmastide. has never been pub- 
lished. It has. however, been many times presented on the 
stage to enthusiastic audiences, two seasons by the famous 
Ben Greet Players. " King Alfred's Jewel " was first pub- 
lished anonymously, and splendid notices came to it on both 
sides of the sea before the author's name was known. The 
most notable of all the reviews given of this work was that by 
Mr. Henry Mills Alden. in The New York Times: " The 
English-speaking world has waited a thousand years for a 
worthy dramatic impersonation of King Alfred. And here 
it is," said Mr. Alden. 

Mrs. Trask's sparkling play. " In the Vanguard." pub- 
lished m 1913, was an instantaneous success, and gave new 
impetus to the discussion of the question of Arbitration. In 



its first year the book was translated, the German translation 
being made by Dr. Ernst Richard of Columbia University. 
Its dramatic appeal for universal peace is strong, logical, and 
convincing in its argument. 

Mrs. Trask's success as an author is undoubtedly the result 
of her power of description, her clear concise English and the 
faculty to hold the reader's sympathy from the beginning to 
the end ; also to the fact that there is nothing in her books but 
what is pure and elevating. Art and foreign travel are sub- 
jects on which she is well versed, she and her husband having 
traveled extensively abroad, visiting the noted art centers of 
the old world. She has been indefatigable in the founding 
and sustaining of a free lecture course in a part of her beautiful 
home, and has done everything in her power to promote knowl- 
edge and culture among the young people, of whom she is 
particularly fond. 

As a hostess she is charmingly gracious and hospitable, 
having the ready tact that enables her to make all guests feel 
at home. While she has thousands of admirers throughout 
the country, she is dearly loved by the people of her home 
town among whom her daily life is passed. 

Throughout her life Mrs. Trask has been active in humani- 
tarian and altruistic work. Not alone through her writings 
has she worked for the betterment of mankind, but she has 
shown great interest in all public matters, and has actively 



participated in public affairs. She is an active Democrat, 
though not a suffragist, and is influential in politics, working 
personally for good citizenship and good government. From 
the first year of their summer residence in Saratoga Springs. 
Mrs. Trask has always been interested in its welfare, and 
actively shared in Mr. Trask's plans and hopes for the Sara- 
toga Reservation. Delightful Yaddo reflects her love of the 
beautiful as her books show her devotion to the ideals of 
universal peace and universal brotherhood. It has been an- 
nounced that, after Mrs. Trask's death, Yaddo is dedicated 
to a most unusual and original plan, the details of which are 
not yet known, but it is for the benefit of writers and other 
artists. The grounds have always been open to the public. 
The motive of Mrs. Trask's life may well be learned from 
her own words : " Wealth brings an obligation to help others. 
That is all that wealth is for. Wealth is a crime unless it is 
used in service. " 

Mrs. Trask is a woman of great beauty, tall and graceful, 
d giving first of all an impression of great mental and 
piritual power. Excellent as is the accompanying likeness, 
it can give no adequate idea of the beauty of this noble woman. 
It can only suggest the exquisite whiteness of the complexion, 
the clear, deep blue of the eyes, and the charm of a singularly 
radiant and beautiful personality. 



an 

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\ 



LiBRflRV OF CONGRESS 




F lie 
Copy 



MRS. CHARLES H. BURBECK 



NEW 
VO R K 




VOMEN 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 
CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon JAMES H; MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY, N. Y.— 1922 






Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor. 



I 
I 

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MRS. CHARLES H. BURBECK. 



Mrs. Charles Hempsted Burbeck (Emily Frances Der- 
rick), whose ancestors were among the most prominent 
of the earlier settlers of eastern New York, was born 
in Brunswick, Rensselaer County, N. Y., October 18, 
1835. Her father, Charles Derrick, was for years a 
well known farmer and business man of the town of 
Brunswick, he was born January 1 4, 1 796, and died 
August 7, 1851. Her mother was Hannah Hayner, born 
June 1 7, 1 800, daughter of George and Elizabeth 
(Derrick) Hayner. She was a sister of the late Calvin 
Hayner, for many years a prominent banker and business 
man of Troy, who enjoyed to the fullest the confidence 
and esteem of the community in which the greater part 
of his life was spent. Mrs. Derrick was a woman who 
possessed a cultivated mind and manner in the highest 
degree pleasing. She made her home all that it was in 
the power of any woman to make it. She was the mother 
of thirteen children. The last years of her life were spent 
with her daughter, Emily (Mrs. Burbeck), who is the 



only surviving member of the family. She died at the 
advanced age of eighty-seven. Under the loving influence 
and care of this saintly mother. Emily grew to girlhood 
and was educated in the district school at HaynerviUe. 
near Brunswick. As the years went by and she reached 
womanhood, it was apparent that Emily had inherited 
much of the sweetness and devotion to others that her 
mother to such a large degree possessed. 

Mrs. Burbeck's uncle. Calvin Hayner. was born in the 
town of Brunswick. Rensselaer County. October 25. 1805. 
At the age of fifteen he went to Troy where he secured 
employment and where, in after years, he became one of 
the ablest of the city's substantial business men. and was 
widely recognized as a financier of great ability and fore- 
sight. Shortly after the founding of the Mutual Bank of 
Troy in 1852. Mr. Hayner was elected a member of 
the Board of Directors, and in 1855 was elected Vice- 
President. This institution was made a National Bank 
March 23. 1865. under the name of the Mutual National 
Bank of Troy. Mr. Hayner continued to serve as Vice- 
President until January 12. 1876. when he was elected 
President, which office he still held at the time of his 
death. He was a man of unimpeachable integrity, and 
was recognized as a thorough Christian gentleman of the 
old school. 



Mr. Hayner was a great lover of his home, and after 
the death of his wife, which occurred November 27, 1872, 
he naturally turned to his favorite niece, Emily Derrick, 
to come and look after his wants and to take the care 
of his home. She came, and such care and devotion as 
she showered on him few men have ever received, and 
all she ever asked in return for these months and years 
of constant love and care was the privilege to be of 
service to her uncle. Mr. Hayner died July 5, 1878, 
and although nearly forty-five years have peissed, her love 
for his memory has never diminished, and she has never 
allowed an opportunity to pass to perpetuate his memory 
in any way ^e thought fitting. He lives in her mind 
to-day as he did fifty years ago. 

On July II, 1885, Emily Derrick married Charles 
Hempsted Burbeck, a native of Canajoharie, Montgomery 
County, having been born there February 8, 1837. He 
was graduated from the Albany Medical College in 
1859, and became a very noted physician and surgeon. 
In 1862 he entered the War of the Rebellion as a 
volunteer, and was enrolled in the 60th New York Infan- 
try at Warrenton, Va., to serve for three years, and was 
mustered into the service as Assistant Surgeon on August 
II, 1 862. Dr. Burbeck was promoted and was mustered 
in as Surgeon of the I02d Infantry, November 5, 1864, 



having received his commission as Surgeon on the 25th 
of the preceding month. He served with the Union Army 
throughout the war, and saw much hard fighting, having 
been with General Sherman on his march to the sea. After 
the war he practiced for a time at Brunswick, but later set- 
tled in Troy where he built up a large practice. He 
died in Troy May 9, 1914. 

Mrs. Burbeck is a woman whose life challenges admira- 
tion at every turn, her devotion to her uncle, to her 
husband and to her fcimily, have been given freely and 
fully, the largeness of her life and thoughts have made 
her a great help to others, and she has won the respect 
of all who know her, because she has fully deserved it. 



1 



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HELEN M. KNICKERBACKER 






NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 



NEW YORK STATE MEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 
• WITH 
BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 

CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon. JAMES H. MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY. N. Y.— 1920 



Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor. 



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HELEN M. KNICKERBACKER. 



Helen M. (Blood) Knickerbacker, widow of Henry 
Knickerbacker, was born at Bloodville, near Ballston Spa, 
Saratoga county, N. Y., January 17, 1838, daughter of 
Isaiah and Jane Eliza (Gates) Blood. Mrs. Knicker- 
backer comes of prominent ancestry, is a woman of rare 
culture and ability, as well as one of great business 
acumen. 

Her father, Isaiah Blood, was one of Saratoga county's 
most distinguished citizens. Himself a practical toolmaker, 
he purchased the business of his father, Sylvester Blood, 
and from a comparatively small business, built it up until 
it became one of the largest scythe, axe and tool manu- 
facturing establishments in the United States. He was a 
man of great prominence in public affairs. On three 
different occasions he was elected to represent the town 
of Milton in the Board of Supervisors of Saratoga 
county, was Member of Assembly from his district, and 
was twice elected to the Senate of the State. He was 
serving as State Senator at the time of his death, 
November 29, 1870. 



Helen M. (Blood) Knickerbaclcer attended different 
schools, and at the age of eighteen finished her education 
in Madam Canda's French School in New York City. 
In the year following her graduation she was united in 
marriage to Henry Knickerbaclcer, son of Abraham and 
Mary Ann (Hale) Knickerbacker and grandson of Col- 
onel John Knickerbacker. Henry Knickerbacker belonged 
to one of the oldest families of Rensselaer county, was 
a member of the Union College Class of 1853. and 
had already begun to make a name for himself in the 
business world. For years, up to the time of his death, 
June 10, 1897, Mr. Knickerbacker was prominently iden- 
tified with the brokerage business in New York City. 

While Mrs. Knickerbacker was well trained in the 
learning of the schools and received a finished education, 
it was not done at the expense of that other kind of 
learning that would render her a good housekeeper. On 
the contrary, from early childhood she was trained in the 
ways of industry. She was taught every banch of house- 
work — sewing, knitting, ironing, etc. — and these accom- 
plishments have remained with her throughout the years. 
To-day, at the age of eighty-two, she is never idle, but 
always has her needle or knitting at hand, for she is a 
firm believer in the doctrine of always having something 
useful to do — and doing it. She has always been par- 



ticularly expert with the knitting needles and still is; 
and many could testify to the warmth of her knitting 
as well as the warmth of her heart. 

This is but one of the many kind and useful things 
Mrs. Knickerbacker has done. She has always been a 
free giver, but her numerous philanthropies have been 
quiet in the extreme. She has taken an active interest 
in the charitable enterprises of Saratoga Springs, her 
summer home for many years, and has been a most 
liberal contributor to their maintenance. She has, how- 
ever, always been strongly opposed to having anything 
said of her charitable work — particularly of having any- 
thing published concerning it — for what she has done 
has always been done for humanity's sake, with no desire 
for notoriety and no thought of reward. 

Mrs. Knickerbacker has firmly established beliefs on 
the leading questions of the day, and on most matters of 
general interest she is well informed. One of her earnest 
convictions is that the proper sphere of women's activities 
is in the home, not in politics. In conformity with this 
belief she has never voted, and is firm in her statement 
that she never will. 

Chief among Mrs. Knickerbacker's recreations for many 
years has been travel. If one were to enumerate the 
various capitals she has visited, the list would include 



those of nearly every country in the world outside 
of China and Japan. For years she has made the visit- 
ing of new and interesting places a hobby, and in con- 
sequence there are but few parts of the world with which she 
is not familiar. These widely extended travels, including 
as they have visits to less frequented locations as well as 
to the show places of the world, have made her an 
unusually broad minded woman with a truly cosmopolitan 
view-point. She has had many interesting experiences, 
and has met many people of international renown. Mrs. 
Knickerbacker was in Baden-Baden, Germany, when the 
World War broke out on August 14. 1914. With her 
companion. Miss Emma Mines, who has been with her 
for more than fifteen years, she remained in Baden-Baden 
until September 27. They were practically the only ones 
left out of more than four hundred Americans who were 
stopping at the hotel when the war broke out. On 
October 15, they sailed from Rotterdam for home. Dur- 
ing these months of war-time in Germany, they were 
treated with every consideration and were given every 
attention that any country could extend to a guest. 

In addition to being a devotee of travel. Mrs. Knicker- 
backer is a great lover of art and of music, and is 
exceedingly fond of flowers. In fact, she takes delight 
in all beautiful things, whether in nature or art; and 



because of her appreciation of the truly fine things of 
the world, her journeyings hither and thither have afforded 
her a degree of pleasure beyond the ordinary. 

Mrs. Knickerbacker was the mother of two children, 
both boys; William Hale Knickerbacker, who died 
August 22, 1913, and Henry Knickerbacker, Jr., a 
graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the 
Class of 1887, who died February 13, 1888. 



I 



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I 



SUSAN BABCOCK HOPKINS MUNSON 



H^9 



NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 



f 



^tt^ 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 
CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon. JAMES H. MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY, N. Y — 1920 



Frederick S. Hills, 
Compiler and Assistant Editor. 









I 






10 




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SUSAN BABCOCK HOPKINS MUNSON. 



Susan B. H. (Mrs. Samuel L.) Munson, former State 
Vice-Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion, member of the Society of New England Women, 
and since its formation president of the Women's Board 
of the Homeopathic Hospital, Albany, N. Y., was born 
at Hudson, N. Y., June 29, 1844, daughter of Lemuel 
J. and Hannah (Babcock) Hopkins. She is of New 
England ancestry. Her grandfather, Ezra Hopkins, was 
born at Norwich, Conn., and his wife, Anne Paddock, 
was a native of Nantucket, R. I. Her grandfather on 
her mother's side, George Babcock, <ind his wife, Mary 
Gavit, were both natives of Rhode Island, and were 
married there. Her mother and her maternal grandmother 
were born at Watch Hill Point, R. I. For twenty years 
a member of the Babcock family served as rector of 
Christ Episcopal Church, at Westerly, R. I. 

During her babyhood Mrs. Munson's parents removed 
to Poughkeepsie, where she spent her early girlhood and 
attended the public schools. When she was fifteen years 
of age her parents removed to Albany, and she became a 
student in Professor Lewis Collins* private school, from 
which she was graduated three years later. 

On May 21, 1868, she married Samuel Lyman Mun- 
son; and for several years thereafter her life was devoted 



to bringing up a large family, for she was the mother of 
seven children, all but one of whom reached maturity. 
After the family had grown up. Mrs. Munson began to 
interest herself in outside matters. Since then there has 
been but few things of importance in her city or. in fact, 
in the State, that has not felt the influence of her strong 
personality. As a member of the Daughters of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, she was for seven years regent of Ganse- 
voort Chapter, of Albany, and later was elected State 
Vice-Regent, and after refusing the office of State Re- 
gent became a member of the State Advisory Board 
of the D. A. R. She also became a member of the 
Mayflower Society and of the Society of Founders and 
Patriots. At the time Mrs. Munson was Vice-Regent of 
the New York State D. A. R.. the organization was 
asked to name a battleship, and the name chosen was 
" the George Washington." A bronze tablet was placed 
in the ship, and this tablet bears the name of Mrs. Mun- 
son as Vice-Regent of the D. A. R. of the State. The 
sponsor at the time of the unveiling of the tablet was 
Mrs. Munson's granddaughter, Susan Elizabeth Lyman. 
This battleship has since become famous as " the Presi- 
dent's ship," as well as by conveying the King and Queen 
of the Belgians to and from America. Mrs. Munson is 
a member of the Society of New England Women, and 
a member of the executive committee of the New YorK 
Colony to decide on the form of a memorial for the 
Tri-Centennial of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth 
Rock. 

Mrs. Munson has been and is very active in charitable 



and religious work. She has been president of the Woman's 
Board of the Homeopathic Hospital since the board was 
organized twenty-one years ago. Its work consists of fur- 
nishing cmd caring for the Nurses Home of the Homeo- 
pathic Hospital, membership in the board being limited 
to thirty-eight members. As president of the board cmd 
for the benefit of the hospital, Mrs. Munson inaugurated 
the first " Tag Day " in Albany, as well as two charity 
balls and two immense card parties held at the Armory, 
which were attended by the Governor and his Staff and 
a vast number of the prominent citizens of Albany. All 
proved a financial success, th6 tag day alone netting more 
than sixteen thousand dollars. Mrs. Munson is a mem- 
ber of the Madison Avenue Reformed Church, and is 
very active in church work as a member of the Womans 
Missionary Society and as president of The King's 
Daughters. She was for yecu-s president of the Asso- 
ciated Charities of Albany. 

In patriotic and relief work during the World War, 
Mrs. Munson took a prominent part. In addition to 
rendering loyal and useful service in the various forms of 
activity in which the women of the country were called 
upon to participate, she was the founder of the Womens 
United Service Alliance of Albany, organized for the 
benefit of the women whose husbands and sons fought in 
the World War. It was a very successful undertaking. 
Much work was done for the Red Cross in the hall 
which was hired for meeting and work purposes. As a 
matter of fact it proved to be one of the most useful 
things carried on by the women of Albany during the 



war — and there were in the neighborhood of eighty 
women's organizations doing war work. Its activities were 
brought to a fitting close with a supper for the returned 
soldiers, at which Governor Smith and Former Governor 
Glynn were speakers. Twenty-two hundred soldiers were 
seated at supper in the Armory at one time, and their 
wants were looked after by five hundred of Albany's 
society women. Tlie success of this undertaking, which was 
done entirely by the women of Albany, was due in a 
large measure to Mrs. Munson, assisted by the other mem- 
bers of the Womens United Service Alliance. 

Mrs. Munson is a woman of attractive personality, of 
broad culture and pleasing address. In the social life of 
the city she has been a leader for years. Her interests 
are many and varied. To the many useful lines of effort 
with which she is identified she brings a rare degree of 
enthusiasm, energy and executive ability of a high order. 
She is a great lover of relics of days gone by. and 
deeply interested in all that pertains to the early history 
of her people, as well as an active participant in the 
events of to-day. In spite of her busy life she has found 
time to indulge that love for collecting that seems to be 
inherent in most people of culture and taste. Her collec- 
tion of Staffordshire cottage figures and chimney ornaments 
is a large and valuable one. These were made in the 
potteries of Staffordshire in the early half of the eighteenth 
century, and consist of various kinds of figures, some in 
common Staffordshire crockery, others in really fine porce- 
lain that are truly beautiful. There are figures of cows, 
sheep and other animals in various colors, but more inter- 



esting and generally of a higher order of workmanship 
are the peasant groups, houses, and single figures which 
were originally supposed to be used in pairs. The houses 
in this ware vary from cottages to castles, and many 
are beautifully colored. The best known couples are the 
dairyman and the milkmaid, the shepherd and the shep- 
herdess and the squire and his dame. Many of these 
ornaments are the work of the well known potters of the 
period, and bear the mark of such master potters of 
Staffordshire as Enoch Wood and Ralph Woods. 

As a hostess Mrs. Munson is charmingly gracious and 
hospitable, having the ready tact that enables her to make 
all guests feel at home. While she has many admirers 
throughout the country, she has earned the affection of 
the people of her home city among whom her daily life 
is spent and where she continues her charitable activities 
unabated at the present day. 



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RHODA THOMPSON 



NEW 
VORK 




WOMEN 



'V. 



X 



f 



i 



NEW YORK STATE WOMEN 



INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY EDITION 

WITH 

BIOGRAPHIC STUDIES 
CHARACTER PORTRAITS 

AND 

AUTOGRAPHS 



Hon JAMES Hi MANNING 
Editor 



THE ALBANY ARGUS ART PRESS 
ALBANY, N. Y.— 1925 







-^i-t^— 




GIFT 
PUBLISHER 
JAN * '2e 



Frederick S. Hills, 
Assistant Editor and Publisher. 



RHODA THOMPSON 



Rhoda Thompson, one of the most widely known and best beloved 
residents of Saratoga county, member of a family whose name has been 
linked with every development of the section since before the county of 
Saratoga was formed, was born at Rose Hill, one of the beauty spots, of 
Saratoga county, in 1833, daughter of Judge James Thompson and Mary 
(Stansbury) Thompson. Her grandfather, John Thompson, was first 
judge of Saratoga county and her father held the office of County Judge 
for several terms. Her brother, John W. Thompson, served as Surrogate 
of the county and was one of the founders of the Ballston Spa National 
Bank, being president of that institution at the time of his death in 1892. 

Miss Thompson inherited the keen legal mind for which the family 
were noted and managed the fortune which descended to her with wisdom 
and ability. She took an active interest in all the affairs of the community 
and contributed to every worthy charity. For a long time she kept the 
Milton Hill District School in successful operation, repairing and modern- 
izing the schoolhouse and giving each year sufficient funds to balance the 
budget. She was loved by all in the neighborhood surrounding Rose Hill 
Farm, where her quiet and unobtrusive charities and good works were 
practiced for a generation. The following interesting story of her family, 
written by Miss Thompson, several years before her death, will be ap- 
preciated by all lovers of Historical Facts. 

" Since Saratoga's early days, long before it became a county, the 
Thompson family has been identified with its history. From sturdy Scotch 
ancestry, courageous, intelligent and upright, they had inherited qualities 
valuable alike to pioneers and the land of their adoption. Never seeking 
office, believing always that ' the office should seek the man,' four genera- 
tions have held responsible offices in the county. Never forgetting that 
* a public office is a public trust,' they conscientiously performed the duties 



of their positions, regardless of any sacrifice of popular favor or private in- 
terest. Their ancestors were among those Scotch families who early in the 
seventeenth century left Argyleshire and settled in Ireland in the Province 
of Ulster. 

" Unhappily the peace and religious liberty they hoped for was not 
to be found in Ulster, and deprived of their civil and religious rights by 
the arbitrary laws and exactions in favor of the Established Church of 
England, they resolved to seek in America a refuge from oppression. 

" A memorial dated March 26, 1718. and signed by the leading men 
of this Scotch colony, was sent to Governor Shute of New Hampshire by 
Rev. William Boyd. Among the signers were James, Robert, William 
and John Thompson. Nine subscribers were ' ministers of the Gospel.' 
Three others were ' graduates of the University of Scotland.' This docu- 
ment is still preserved. Naturally, Governor Shute sent every encourage- 
ment to such very desirable immigrants, who as soon as possible converted 
their property into money and set sail. Later five ships arrived in Boston 
Harbor bringing a band of pilgrims to whose indomitable spirit, intelligent 
and high principle America owes more of her prosperity and fine traits of 
national character than can ever be estimated. They were of a race quite 
distinct from the English Puritans. 

" General Schuyler used his influence to attract these desirable neighbors, 
and to Stillwater in the Saratoga Patent came several of the families. 

" The Thompson family was one of the first to arrive. One of its 
members — a boy of fourteen — was destined to take an active part in the 
development of the new country, then not far from a wilderness. John 
Thompson's father, after establishing his family in a comfortable home, and 
securing to his son the best educational advantages within reach, died be- 
fore the guns of an invading army disturbed the peace of Stillwater. His 
son John, trained to a strong sense of duty as a citizen, bore his part man- 
fully in the stirring events which followed. At an early age he married 
Fanny MacFarland, also of Scotch descent, whose ancestors came with his 
own to America. He took her to the Stillwater house, where they reared 
a family of seven children, teaching them " to fear god, love their country 



and help their neighbors." During the Revolutionary War, he was captain 
of the company in which he and some of the neighbors enlisted. In I 788, 
when Stillwater township was organized, he was appointed one of its first 
justices. In that year and in I 789 he was a mennber of the State Assembly. 
In I 79 1, when Saratoga took its place as a county, Governor Qinton ap- 
pointed John Thompson ' First Judge,' which office he held for eighteen 
years until 1809 when he reached the age of sixty, the limit fixed by law. 
All contemporary testimony and records prove that he was an upright, fear- 
less and impartial judge, although the study of law had not been included 
in his education. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention 
of 1801 , called to review the laws of the State, and was elected as a repre- 
sentative to the Sixth, Tenth and Eleventh Congress. In April he writes, 
' I am very sorry to hear from Judge Palmer that a division is likely to 
take place which may injure the Republican interests in our county. I had 
rather retire in favor of Colonel Thomas than to have the Republican in- 
terest broken.' (The Republicans of that time were Jeffersonian Demo- 
crats.) One letter, February 17, 1801, is jubilant: 'This day at one 
o'clock the speaker declared that Thomas Jefferson was duly elected Presi- 
dent of the United States.' Judge Thompson had greatly feared the 
success of Colonel Burr's machinations. 

" In October, 1 807, he reaches Washington ' after a tedious journey 
by land and water.' In 1812 he returned to Stillwater and private life. 
He died in 1823, in his seventy-fifth year. He had the satisfaction of see- 
ing his children established in prosperity, leading useful and honored lives. 
His son James filled the father's former office as first judge of the county. 
Dr. Nathan Thompson was a much respected physician in Galway, 
William a prominent lawyer of Ovid, N. Y., and Charles in active busi- 
ness at Seneca Falls. One daughter had married Dr. Aaron Gregory of 
Milton and the other Dr. Sears of Stillwater. Both physicians were emi- 
nent not only for skill, but high character. Those ' times that tried men's 
souls ' severely tested women's courage. When Mrs. Schuyler was apply- 
ing the torch to Saratoga wheat-fields — to keep the grain from the British 
troops (a hard alternative for such a thrifty housewife) Mrs. Thompson 



at Stillwater was trying to shield her little family from the coming storm of 
war — almost at her door, her husband exposed to its fury. When the 
battle of Bemis Heights began to rage, she was placed in an ox cart with 
her baby of three days, and a son not two years old, and taken from home 
for safety. 

" Born and bred among these stirring scenes, James Thompson natur- 
ally took a deep interest in the events which were making the history of his 
native county. He finished the course of study at the Schenectady Acad- 
emy the year before it developed into Union College. After graduating 
James TTiompson studied law and was admitted to the bar soon after 
attaining his majority. When his father (who had spared no expense in 
his son's education) presented him with a good horse, saddle and saddle- 
bags, a gold watch and a hundred dollars, the son felt himself generously 
supplied for the battle of life. His professional success was remarkable. 
Within two years this young man — not yet twenty-five — had established a 
high reputation and a lucrative practice. 

" In 1802 James Thompson married a daughter of Abel Whalen, 
one of the early and influential residents of Milton. She was the mother 
of his three children. He bought the farm on the Middle Line road form- 
erly called ' the Judge Thompson place,' in later years ' Rose Hill Farm.' 
He built first his office, and then from its earnings (never a dollar of debt) 
the house in which he lived and died and which is still the home of one 
of his children. He respected his office and scrupulously maintained 
its dignity for which his own character and bearing eminently fitted him. 
When he was to charge a jury, young lawyers came for a lesson in clear 
forcible diction. He has been called ' the father of the Saratoga county 
bar.' When his judicial career closed in 1833, he allowed himself com- 
parative rest. He had married in 1831 a daughter of Daniel Stansbury 
of New York city. Judge Thompson's sudden death in 1 845 was a shock 
and grief to the community. 

"Judge Thompson's second son, John Whalen Thompson, born De- 
cember 1 9, 1 808, inherited the mental power of his father and grandfather. 
His education was carefully supervised by his father. Milton Hill Acad- 



emy, Charlton Academy and the famous Lansingburg Academy complete 
his preparation for college. He graduated with honor at Union College in 
1827. In 1831 he was admitted an attorney of the Supreme Court and be- 
gan practice in Ballston Spa. In 1834, Governor Marcy appointed John 
W. Thompson Surrogate of Saratoga county, and that position he held 
until 1846, when the new constitution took effect. Mr. Thompson's un- 
usual ability in financial affairs led him early to take a deep interest in the 
organization of the Ballston Spa Bank, of which he was one of the original 
incorporators in 1838. His reputation for uncompromising integrity and 
conservative management were of great advantage to the bank. In 1856, 
Mr. Thompson was made president of the bank, and thereafter devoted 
himself to its care and management until his death. He rendered it a very 
successful and sound institution. In several instances, through corre- 
spondence with senators, his ideas were adopted and utilized by Congress 
in financial legislation following the Civil war. 

" Reserved and retiring by nature, John W. Thompson avoided rather 
than courted prominence in public affairs. His dislike of ostentation and 
display was great. The accumulation of wealth never tempted him to alter 
his simple mode of life. He married, early in life, a daughter of Joel Lee, 
who, after a life of devotion to her family and her church, died in 1871. 
John W. Thompson lived to the age of eighty-four and died on June 28. 
1892, leaving three sons and one daughter. His eldest son, George Lee 
Thompson, succeeded his father as president of the Ballston Spa Bank. 
Ill health compelled him to withdraw from active life for some time before 
his death, which occurred on December 29, 1895, in his sixty-first year. 
When his sister, Alice Thompson, died in Europe in 1898, a noble life 
ended. She had ' done good by stealth ' in such large measure that only 
her death revealed its extent." 

The same might be said of Rhoda Thompson that she said of her 
niece Alice Thompson, " done good by stealth." In her long, and interest- 
ing story of the family, hers is the only name omitted. 

Rhoda Thompson was a woman of excellent judgment and rare execu- 
tive ability, who had made and retained a large circle of friends. She was 



of a most cultured mind, of genial personality, and one ever interested in 
all that spelled advancement, doing much in a quiet manner. She was an 
ardent lover of her country, and intensely interested in all questions touch- 
ing the public welfare. She reached her opinions with calmness and de- 
liberation, and was pre-eminently just and impartial in forming her judg- 
ments. Quiet, unostentatious, unobtrusive, she was, nevertheless, a power 
in the community. Miss Thompson died in the ninetieth year of her age, 
having illustrated through her long life the power and beauty of an influence 
that finds its impulse in the words of our Teacher and Lord, " Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself." 

After Miss Thompson's death which occurred August 8, 1923, the 
following " In Memoriam " was published to her memory: 

" The death of Miss Rhoda Thompson, the first treasurer of Wia- 
waka, has saddened the hearts of her many friends. When help and en- 
couragement were much needed. Miss Thompson brought to the house in 
those early days the help of her wise counsel and appreciative sympathy. 
The workers who were privileged to meet her in her lovely home (Rose Hill 
Farm, Ballston Spa) will never forget her beautiful presence and her al- 
ways gracious welcome. Miss Thompson's very long and very active life 
on her old beloved farm gave her a wide and valuable knowledge of prac- 
tical affairs, and she was always ready to give of her best to those in need 
of aid and encouragement. Her presence and loving words were a bene- 
diction. ' Her life had the placid strength of a noble river, her death was 
its gentle broadening into a dawn-lit-sea.' " 



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